Why the Raiders Will Miss Former DC Patrick Graham

As the Las Vegas Raiders know all too well, it is tough to find solid coaches around the National Football League. As the Raiders officially begin to turn the page to yet another coaching staff, former Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham's contribution cannot be overlooked.

A Look Back

The Raiders often turned to Graham's defenses to help get them out of bad situations. This was especially the case, as Las Vegas' offenses routinely struggled to do much of anything over the past three seasons. The ineptitude of the Raiders' offense negatively impacted Grahams' defenses weekly.

Las Vegas' offense has not just been bad, it has been among the worst in the league in many regards. The Raiders have tried and failed for years to play complimentary football. However, most of the time, Graham's defenses did enough to warrant either a win or a much closer Raiders' loss.

CBS Sports recently ranked the Pittsburgh Steelers' decision to hire Graham as their next defensive coordinator, giving them a B+ grade. This puts into perspective how Graham is viewed around the NFL and makes it clear that many realize the Raiders' defensive struggles this season were above Graham.

"During his second year with the Raiders in 2023, Graham helped the unit go from 26th to ninth in the NFL in points allowed. This past season, Las Vegas ranked 10th in the league in passing touchdowns allowed and fourth in average yards per carry allowed," CBS Sports said.

Graham's defenses struggled aside from the offense's troubles. Yet, there is a reason Graham survived three different Raiders regimes. Every time the Raiders fired a coach over the past three offseasons, Graham remained. That alone should speak volumes.

Still, Graham never shied away from accountability. He never pointed the finger at the offense's struggles or the fact that he routinely had one of the lowest-paid defenses in the National Football League. Graham made the best out of a situation he was given subpar tools to work with.

"The biggest thing for me, my job is, again, to get these guys prepared. Whether it's the schematics, whether it's the fundamentals, laying out a plan and a routine for the assistant coaches to make sure that we're working on what we need to work on. So that's part of my job description,” Graham said.

“I have to do that. And then having those guys ready to go both mentally, physically, and emotionally, using my past experience and just what I know about them to get them prepared. And then from there, then we get to the game, I got to put them in the best spot to be successful.

So, whether it's by unit going out there, or situationally, having the right call things that nature, and then when you have a season like it's gone so far, I point the finger to me, first and foremost, obviously I haven't done a good enough job."

While admirable, personally, I disagree with Graham. Considering all that went on with the Raiders during his time with the team, Graham did a solid job. Some things could have been better but, it is hard to imagine he could have done much more than he did in Las Vegas, given the Raiders' roster.

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